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M E D I C A T I O N
S A F E T Y
What's wrong? This "indefensible error" of disorganization is courting a catastrophe. The casual intermingling of different drugs in the same bin, tray or cart drawer can easily cause avoidable errors.
The remedy: Separate compartments in storage areas are a necessity, as is the assurance of proper segregation by the staff who stock your medications.
What's wrong? Note the drawn, but insufficiently labeled, syringe. It's missing several of the 5 required elements of syringe labeling, which include the drug's name and strength, the date and time it was drawn, and the preparer's initials. (Note that the syringe is also intermingled with other drugs in a common container.)
The remedy: Drugs removed
from their original identifying
containers must be labeled. In spite of the evidence presented in this photo, preprinted labels make this more likely to happen than blank ones do.
